Motor vehicles, and particularly privately owned automobiles, are susceptible to being rendered uncomfortable and to being damaged by periodic exposure to the sun and weather. One especially vexing problem for the typical owner of a car is that when parked temporarily in the sun, the passenger compartment quickly becomes quite hot (greenhouse effect). This is very uncomfortable to passengers upon returning to the vehicle. It is also potentially damaging to the car and its contents. Plastic and leather fabrics and coverings are more rapidly aged or dried by exposure to heat or to ultraviolet light which enters the cab. Certain personal property commonly carried in cars, such as magnetic audio tapes, are also quite susceptible to damage from heat.
Other environmental hazards which are desirable to avoid include dust, dirt, rain, snow, frost and ice formation on vehicle windows, wiper blades, door handles and key holes.
Motor vehicle covers have been developed to protect vehicles from these conditions. Some are full body covers, that is, covers which envelope or cover an entire vehicle body. Others are designed specifically to cover only the window area, since both heat and window fouling hazards impinge principally on the cab area of motor vehicles. A cover which covers the windows only, or which covers roof and windows, will be termed a cab cover. A full body cover can be awkward and unwieldy to install, unattractive, and may occupy a large amount of space when stored. In particular, a full body cover must generally be exactly shaped to conform to the vehicle body in order to avoid unsightly bulges and to keep from being blown off the vehicle by the wind.
Previous covers have not found a wide market, principally because they are difficult to put on the vehicle. Even a cab cover must be unfolded, placed around the cab, and secured in place at the same time that the cover has a tendency to move around on the cab or slip off the cab. A full body cover is even more difficult to install, because of the length of the vehicle. The cover must be thrown over the vehicle, one end secured, and then the other end secured. The cover has a tendency to slip off the first end while the other end is being secured.
There is a need for a self-deploying cover with an internal frame that gives the cover sufficient rigidity that the cover can be properly oriented, picked up and placed over the vehicle""s cab by one person and remain over the cab without sliding off while the cover is secured to the vehicle, suitably by straps to the wheel wells. However, the semi-rigid frame must be foldable so that the cover takes up a minimum amount of room for storage in the vehicle. Such a cover would enhance the user""s lifestyle by providing a cool car with minimal work. There is also a need for a full body cover with similar characteristics. There is also a need for a full body cover which can be tightly secured onto the vehicle for transport of the vehicle by automobile carrier, train, etc.
Although the cover is primarily intended for automobiles, it will also find use on trucks, airplanes, boats, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, personal watercrafts and agricultural equipment.
A full-body, self-deploying cover for a vehicle. The cover consists of a fabric sheet with a sleeve formed in its periphery. Within the sleeve is an elastic rod with two free ends. The rod is foldable between an expanded state and a stored state. In the expanded state the rod outwardly tensions the periphery of the fabric sheet and forms a semi-rigid frame, with the spring tension of the rod causing the cover to self-deploy. A connector joins the ends of the elastic rod together after the cover is placed over the vehicle, with the rod beneath the vehicle""s undercarriage and tightening the fabric sheet securely within the perimeter of the undercarriage.
A principal object and advantage of the present invention is that the cover is easily placed on the vehicle, yet is securely attached under the vehicle""s undercarriage so that it cannot fly off when the vehicle is being transported from place to place.
Another principal object and advantage of the present invention is a locking device securing the cover beneath the vehicle""s undercarriage, making it impossible to remove the cover without a key.